Mr. Bell goes to Washington (again)

After jazz, country, and Latin music, it's classical music's turn. The White House is presenting a day of classical music on November 4. The chosen quartet of performers (no overlaps with those who played at Obama's inauguration), Americans all, are Sharon Isbin, Alisa Weilerstein, Awadagin Pratt, and Josh Bell. An afternoon of master classes will include appearances by two young artists (or, as the official communiqué calls them, "child protégés" -- forget about prodigies; it's all in whom you know), Sujari Britt, a cellist, and Jason Roder, a marimbist. The subsequent evening concert by the four headliners will be streamed live on www.whitehouse.gov, and broadcast on Sirius over the weekend.

As for the choices of musicians: much like the Inauguration quartet, it seems to signal openness and inclusiveness, bringing in a range of ethnicities, genders, and even instruments (the classical guitar, despite many worthy efforts, is still something of a specialty interest to your average chamber music audience). The aim appears to be outreach along the newly conventional lines of Gee-classical-music-is-more-fun-than-I-thought; the emphasis is -- deliberately -- on education as much as performance.